Washington D.C.

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In 1938, the District Flag Commission was created by an Act of Congress 'to procure a design for a distinctive flag for the District of Columbia'. The District Flag Commission was composed of three non-elected federally-appointed members: the president of the Board of Commissioners, the secretary of war and the secretary of the Navy. The flag was selected by the commission with the help of the Commission of Fine Arts. Since no local group was involved in the selection process, Washingtonians saw the flag as a symbol of their lack of representation. More recently, it has been embraced by most DC residents and businesses, as well as the DC Statehood Movement as a symbol of their local identity in the 21st century.

In Their Own Story

The Washington family traces its roots to England in the 13th century to Wessyngton, a small rural estate in the northeastern county of Durham where Sir William de Hertburn received a lordship. The original coat of arms evolved drastically over the next 150 years through alliances, land acquisitions and conflicts. In 1346, the first appearance of the family coat of arms as we would recognize it was recorded for Sir William de Wessyngton's great-grandson, but with argent (silver) horizontal bars and mullets on a gules (red) field. By the end of the 14th century, the current design was recorded for the family. After various events, the family was dispersed around England in Buckinghamshire, Kent, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. In 1592, Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of Arms confirmed the coat of arms upon Lawrence Washington (1566/68-1616) of Sulgrave Manor in Northamptonshire during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Reader's Guide

Since its creation by Congress on July 9, 1790, by the Residence Act and for over a century, the District of Columbia was without an official flag and flew several unofficial banners, usually the flag of the D.C. National Guard. In 1874, Colonel R. I. Fleming approved funds to purchased a National and regimental flag for the 1st regiment National Guard. The regimental flag had a blue field with the district's seal in the center. The seal on the flag was differed, it was missing the liberty cap and salute of Washington. The whole thing costed $100 which would be around $2,939 today. In the early 20th Century, the Thompsen-Bryan-Ellis Company was a firm of printers working on a flag book under the direction of Lieutenant Commander Byron McCandless who had a great interest in vexillology. The work was then taken over by the National Geographic. It became the now well known 'Our Flag Number' (Volume XXXII - Number 4) which contained 1197 flags in full colors and an additional 300 in black and white. On page 335, the National Guard's flag is shown as the representation of the District of Columbia. It showed a blue flag with two banners on it: one above with the word 'Headquarters' and one below with 'District of Columbia Militia' written on it. In between was an axe. The flag was made by General Harris and later displayed over his headquarters in 1897.

Did You Know?

• The flag is an armorial banner based on the coat of arms of Lawrence Washington, George Washington's 3rd great-grandfather, confirmed in 1592.
• In heraldry, the stars on the flag are called mullets and the coat of arms is blazoned as 'argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second'.
• The District Flag Commission that selected the flag in 1938 was composed of three non-elected federally-appointed members: the president of the Board of Commissioners, the secretary of war and the secretary of the Navy.
• The flag was ranked best with a score of 9.17 in a review of 150 American city flags by the North American Vexillological Association.
• George Washington used the coat of arms extensively on his Mount Vernon plantation, including on personal objects and on the livery of his enslaved servants.